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7 PRINCES OF HELL
A 4th Century Christian Monk Evagrius of Pontus created a list of 8 "Offenses and Wicked Human Passions" they were gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. He saw the graduated severity as representing increasing self obsession, Pride, as in later lists was the most severe of the sins. 1
6th century Pope - Gregory the Great reduced the list to seven items combining vaniglory with pride and acedia with sadness. Lust, gluttony, avarice sadness, anger , envy and Pride were his rankings with Pride again being the most severe. In the seventeenth century, sadness was replaced with sloth.
According to a 16th Century German Jesuit priest and demonologist Peter Binsfield , the 7 princes of Hell equate to the 7 deadly sins. Binsfield was also involved in the inquisitionary witch hunts of the era and wrote "The Confession of Warlocks and Witches", which advocated torture as a means of extracting confessions from suspected Witches.
Lucifer - Pride - The sin from which all others arise
Mammon - Greed and Avarice
Asmodeus - Lust
Satan - Anger and Wrath
Beelzebub - Gluttony
Leviathan - Envy
Belphegor - Vanity and Sloth
He also speculated that other demons invoke sins as well , the incubi and succubi being the offspring of Lilith invoke sexual arousal and wanton lust. The succubi impregnate themselves by copulating with human males in order to bear more demons. The incubi seduce women into sin and impregnate them with demon spawn.
Anton LaVey and his Satanic Cult cite only four:
Satan
Lucifer
Leviathan
Belial
The Picture Book of Devils, Demons and Witchcraft 1971 by Ernst and Johanna Lehner, describes a differing punishment in Hell associated with each sin, This book is prized for its collection of "representations, symbols, and manuscript pages of devils and death .. "Fascinating graphics depict demons, witches and warlocks, the Danse Macabre, Hell and Damnation, the Art of Dying, more"
Pride -broken on the wheel
Envy - put in freezing water
Anger - dismembered alive
Sloth -thrown in snake pits
Greed -put in cauldrons of boiling oil
Gluttony -forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes
Lust - smothered in fire and brimstone
1.} Sacred Origins of Profound Things , by Charles Panati,
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